Monday, March 8, 2010

The recent Pulse Asia survey showing the United Opposition’s (UNO)-Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) ticket for the May 10 elections is starting to catch up with the frontrunners had triggered bigger support to former President Joseph Estrada and his running mate Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, including the traditional administration bailiwick of Cebu province.

Estrada said based on the recent survey, Filipinos are now seeing through the real colors of Estrada’s rivals who are supposedly opposition candidates,adding the two frontrunners — Liberal Party (LP) bet Sen. Benigno Aquino III and Nacionalista Party (NP) standard bearer Manuel Villar Jr. — played pivotal roles in imposing on the people the widely rejected administration of President Arroyo.

In the UNO-PMP sortie in Subic, Zambales, Estrada said sincerity is key to winning the trust of the people and not the quantity of television advertisements and celebrity endorsers.... MORE

The Daily Tribune marks 10 years of religiously bringing Filipinos unembellished news daily, a feat to which only a few newspapers can lay claim.

That period was never easy as the newspaper, if likened to a boat, had to sail against the political wind where it eventually found its strength.

From what was first being branded as a pro-Estrada newspaper (by newspapers that were, ironically enough, pro-Gloria and her new administration), since it was born during the term of the Centennial President Joseph Estrada in 2000, it was later branded as an opposition paper during Estrada’s unconstitutional ouster in 2001 and through the rapacious term of President Arroyo which hopefully ends in June. But the paper was merely being independent and believed in the freedom of the press.

The Tribune has evolved as most now see it as a political paper that dishes out the real deal in government and its officials.

We — and I mean all of us who are with, and connected to, The Tribune — must have being doing right all these years, to be able to have been in existence for 10 years, which is a long time in the newspaper business, and this despite a lot thrown against us in the early days, such as, for instance the many rumors spread about our inability to go on as a newspaper, and that we would be facing closure soon, to the rumor of being wracked by resignations, to being branded as an opposition paper, to being sued for libel on the whims of the powerful and influential, to the government sending its forces to close down the paper, having been critical of the Malacañang occupant but whose move was stymied as we — and I mean the editors, the deskmen, the reporters, the business personnel and officers, the correspondents — united to fight the government move to close us down, tooth and nail, not giving the police and military sent to take over our newspaper an inch of giving in to them.

That, if I am asked to describe The Tribune officers and staff, is what true grit is. We are determined and we never give up the fight.

And true grit is what we at The Tribune have, and the reason we have survived all these years, despite the sling and arrows thrown our way by the powerful and influential.... MORE

03/08/2010
The trend of the present electoral campaign is being dictated by the results of the opinion surveys conducted with increasing frequency by the leading polling organizations, and the fortunes of the candidates for national office have been rising and falling in accordance with each new set of survey results.

The results of the latest Pulse Asia survey, conducted between Feb. 5 and 8, have Noynoy Aquino widening his lead over Manny Villar by seven percent of the 1,800-respondent survey sample, Manny Villar losing six percent of his previous share of the respondents and former President Joseph Estrada increasing his share by six percent, bringing their ratings to 36 percent, 29 percent and 18 percent, respectively.

On the basis of the results of this latest survey, it can be said that if the presidential election had been held around the time that it was conducted, Noynoy Aquino would be the new President of the Philippines and Manny Villar and Joseph Estrada would be the first-runner-up and second-runner-up, respectively. Is this an accurate presentation of the state of popular opinion regarding the worth of the individuals who are offering themselves for selection as the nation’s top officials? Do the surveys accurately capture the sentiments of the electorate of this country?.... MORE

It’s back to basics 24 years after Edsa l. After all the huffing and hewing about how the country was saved from the precipice by the so-called “Yellow Army” of crusaders, the question of whether we are better off than before remains as valid as ever. True, we now have more democractic space and one can write critical pieces against those in power without having to suffer dire consequences. People can speak their minds out and pour out their heartaches against all kinds of evil including those committed by the ruling class without having to fear for one’s life. That is, if one is not is some nook of the country (whether in the urban jungle or in the backwoods), where drugs and gangsters, official or otherwise, reign supreme. I mean we have the formal trappings of a democracy (although the same is being eroded every single day) but do we really enjoy it in its proper form and have the means and the environment to so move as in mature societies? The overwhelming response is NO. Not even the best laid plans of the Yellow Army which converged at the Araneta Coliseum to celebrate the events of long ago could hide the fact that we are a democracy in name only. We remain hostages to the whims and caprices of a ruling elite which hold sway over the country and have majority of the people in peonage. The institutions of democracy are so feeble they can be bent with the right connections. And the sad reality is those who should know better try to perpetuate and even take advantage of the situation to promote their divisive politics instead of uniting the people and instill the proper values to enhance our democratic traditions and practices. Worse, their kind of politics has and will definitely not bring food, clothing, shelter, jobs and a host of other basic needs to the masses of our people who continue to wallow in poverty and destitute surroundings while they throw mud at each other in their quest for power and personal gain.... MORE